E'en so Here Below, Below
by Fablespinner
Summary: Or “All I Want for Christmas is the Goblin King”... one-shot It's been Seven Years and a wish is made and the Host go a Wassailing... Romantic fluff and fun and a little adult type touching for the holidays!


_**Obligatory Disclaimer:**__ This is a work of fanfiction, this means I do not own any of the characters, no matter how much I wish I had His Nibs Jareth, the Goblin King as my own personal cabana boy in tight trousers (and nothing else) bearing peach margaritas and chocolate truffles and singing "It's too Darn Hot" under the citronella filled tiki torches while shaking his money maker around my backyard pool. (Let us pause to appreciate that thought for a moment shall we ladies? Mmm, mental images are such lovely things indeed.) I own nothing but the words in this tale and those aren't worth much. Everything else is © Jim Henson and Company. I'm only borrowing their toys and I'll put them back when I'm finished, only slightly used and abused (And more than likely severely Sexually Harassed)._

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_**E'en so Here Below, Below**_

_**Or "All I Want for Christmas is the Goblin King"...**_

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**Christmas Eve 1993, 4:30 PM…**

Sarah sighed as she trudged up the path to her tiny little rented cottage. The path was slippery as she navigated the path and fished her keys out of her purse. It was the same every year, why she even bothered to visit anymore she didn't know. Perhaps she had a sick masochist nature that thrilled in being tortured every Christmas. She could very literally drop of the face of the earth and it would take the Williams' an entire year to notice, if they even did then.

She opened the door and dropped her purse and keys on the side table and hung her worn out coat on the peg by the door and shivered. Her radiator seemed to be out again. She picked up the crowbar propped next to it and gave it a few good whacks before it sputtered and began issuing pitiful heat into her tiny one bedroom house. Hell, it was a one room house. Everything had its own little corner; the only room that had separate walls was the tiny bathroom.

It was cramped, it was cold, and it was all she could afford on her salary. But it had its charm, it reminded her of the little gingerbread house out of Hansel and Gretel. At sixteen she'd had so many hopes for the future, at eighteen and off to college those hopes and dreams faced a bitter reality as her world shifted. That was when the 'tradition' began.

They called it tradition, Sarah called it the gradual excommunication of Sarah. That first year away from home, they had called and said that they were not going to be home for Christmas, that they were taking Toby to Karen's parents, so she could come for lunch on Christmas Eve but would she mind terribly if she stayed in the dorms for her Christmas holiday? She wasn't THEIR granddaughter after all, and Karen's parents shouldn't be expected to host her as well.

That was when it started and every year since it was the same thing, the past four years exactly the same to be precise. Sarah drove to her father's house, she'd bring presents, they'd eat a quick lunch of sandwiches and cookies, Karen would make her feel unwelcome and like a freak, her choices in study would be criticized, her lack of a love life would be cause for more ridicule and Sarah would leave about an hour after she arrived. Empty-handed. Christmas was for "children" after all Karen would say, explaining why they didn't get a gift for Sarah year after year. Yet, Sarah knew damn well if she showed up without something to give Karen, it would be bad and she wasn't going to tempt that fate. It was bad enough that even Toby was calling her a freak now. Her father, as usual, was oblivious to it all. He had his happily ever after with his second wife and his son, she was the proverbial third wheel, the leftovers from a bad marriage buffet that had been in the fridge too long and mold was starting to grow.

Yet, here she was at twenty-two, still driving two hours to visit a home she wasn't welcome in anymore, bringing gifts, eating cold sandwiches for an hour, feeling like a failure, before driving back home again, to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, alone. Her house was so small she couldn't even decorate. Not that she could afford a tree, and really, why bother when she didn't have anyone to celebrate with?

Now that was entirely her fault and she knew it and the reason. She could never forget HIM. His memory haunted her, his eyes, his face, his sheer masculine presence, his scent, his allure, how he made her tremble in fear and lust and set her ablaze in all the good and bad ways a man could entice a woman. Everything about the Goblin King had imprinted itself indelibly on her psyche and there was no mortal man alive who could hope to compare. It was completely unfair of her to stack men up against that impossibly high standard, so she didn't. It was unfair to them and unfair to her. That basis of comparison was just too much and both the men who failed to achieve such lofty heights and Sarah would be disappointed in any relationship built on 'settling for second best'.

She would rather be alone and die a virgin than to compromise her heart on something doomed from the start. Alone was better than regrets. Sarah thought as she began to make herself a cup of hot chocolate in her microwave, a little liquid comfort for the long evening ahead.

She looked on her table at the single wrapped gift sitting there, a gift she would never be able to give but yet had to buy anyway. It had been expensive and an impulse buy but one look at it sitting there in the antique store window and her heart had stopped. Sitting there from a recent estate sale had been a broach and not just any broach, it was HIM. The golden filigree Barn Owl perched on a branch, it's right eye set in a blue topaz his left eye in a smoky topaz and it had made her shiver looking at him in the window. It had cost her three weeks salary, but she had to get it, even if she could never give it to him, it would sit there, waiting just in case.

She had wrapped the box in golden embossed foil and had painstakingly tied a velvet red ribbon around the box so the trappings were fit for a king and then set it in the center of her mismatched dining room suite where it gleamed. "I wish I could give this to you." She sighed running her finger along the ribbon as the microwave timer chimed and she went to get her cup and settle in to watch _"It's a Wonderful Life"_ on television.

She felt like Mary from that movie, the Mary AFTER George wished he had never been born. She connected with that pitiful character. Mary worked in the library and had never married and was as they called it then, an 'old maid'. She had never married, because George had never been born, so without her 'True Love', she was alone. Sarah worked in a Library, and while her 'true love' wasn't a Building and Loan officer but a regal, spoiled, arrogant, and haughty Goblin King, she couldn't have him either. She related to Mary and held up her cocoa in salute as that scene played on the screen.

"At least you get him back." Sarah sighed sipping from her mug as the sun went down outside and it started to snow.

**Christmas Eve 1993, 6:00 PM…**

The movie was finished and rather than watch another, Sarah switched off her television and let her eyes drift to the window to watch it snow lightly. It was cold but pretty as she watched big fat flakes float silently down outside. It was then she heard it, outside her door was beautiful music, it seemed carolers were outside, coming down the street, and getting closer and they were exceedingly good.

_**The boar's head in hand bear I  
Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary.  
And I pray you, my masters, be merry  
Quot estis in convivio.(1)**_

_**Caput apri defero (2)  
Reddens laudes DOMINO.(3)**_

_**The boar's head, I understand  
The rarest dish in all the land  
When thus all bedeck'd with gay garland  
Let us servire cantico.(4)**_

_**Caput apri defero (2)  
Reddens laudes DOMINO.(3)**_

The voices that had seemed far off now appeared to be right outside her door and she raced to throw open the latch and catch a glimpse of the singers. Her heart stopped when she spied the group walking up her path. It was not a heavenly host but certainly a host of heavenly creatures. All of them dressed like lords and ladies of 'Olde and leading the group of unbelievably gorgeous people, dressed in festive and elegant splendor was none other than the Goblin King. His bright red crushed velvet coat over white lace and linen with black leather pants and boots gleamed in the moonlight reflecting off the snow. On his head was a wreath of Holly and all around the host of singers were goblins, dozens of them carrying an array of platters of treats and sweetmeats.

_**Our steward hath provided this  
In honor of the King of Bliss;  
Which, on this day to be served there is  
In Reginensi atrio.(5)**_

_**Caput apri defero (2)  
Reddens laudes DOMINO(3)  
Laudes DOMINO, laudes DOMINO (6)  
DOMINO (7)**_

Sarah stood there in shock, tears burning in her eyes as her hands covered her lips that had formed a breathless 'O'. The Goblins rushed past her feet and began setting up the feast on her table; the singers formed a gay semi-circle around their monarch as they continued singing. Smiles on all faces and twinkling eyes of merriment, HE however looked at her with what seemed to be adoration as he stepped forward to take her hand from her lips to hold in his own and pull her into the midst of the singers who had seemingly gathered around to sing just for her and her alone.

_**Ding dong! merrily on high,**_

_**In heav'n the bells are ringing:**_

_**Ding dong! verily the sky**_

_**Is riv'n with angel singing.**_

_Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!_

_**E'en so here below, below,**_

_**Let steeple bells be swungen,**_

_**And "Io, io, io, io!"**_

_**By priest and people sungen. **_

_Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!_

_**Pray you, dutifully prime**_

_**Your matin chime, ye ringers;**_

_**May you beautifully rime**_

_**Your evetime song, ye singers. **_

_Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!_

During the singing, one of the women placed a wreath of Holly and mistletoe on Sarah's hair with a gentle smile and a handsome older gentleman draped a mantle around her shoulders to keep off the chill as the Goblin King held her cold hands and sang to her a smile in his voice as well as in his eyes.

She lost it, completely and utterly and tears rolled down her cheeks as Jareth pulled her closer to wrap her in an embrace as the last note died. She was undone and overcome. "No tears precious, not tonight." He whispered into her ear, tugging her toward the house and to the feast now making her home smell magical and divine.

Her house was overrun with bodies, both Sidhe and Goblin alike, holly, ivy and pine were draped on all surfaces, colorful globes of light floated in the air and hot spiced Wassail was sipped, mulled wine was poured, a roasted boar had her poor dining room table groaning like a sway backed mare, baked apples and roasted potatoes, thick gravy and roasted goose, Christmas puddings, cakes and cookies were covering her home. She was dumbstruck and her tongue had taken its leave without so much as leaving her a note and her mind was frozen but her body was warm, Oh so gloriously warm.

The Goblin King had taken up residence in her favorite chair and had her sitting in his lap as he ordered her food to be served and her glass filled. He stroked lazy circles on her back as she finally began coming back to her senses.

"What? How? WHY?" She managed to croak out and Jareth laughed merrily.

"You finally made a wish you stubborn gel." He replied with a wink as an adorably ugly little goblin came bounding over, a bit of garland wrapped around his neck like a feather boa.

"King happy, was sad that lady was sad. Here Eat!" He said holding up a tray of what looked like apple rosettes.

"I don't understand." Sarah said, taking a sip of her wine and an apple from the tray .

"Love, you do. Is it so very hard to believe that I could feel for you, what you do for me?" He said and Sarah's eyes widened and Jareth nodded at her dawning understanding.

"But why now? I didn't make a wish did I?" She rambled and Jareth chuckled.

"You did and I needed that wish to come to you precious. You sadly and admittedly unknowingly locked that particular door once upon a time and it's about bloody time you unlocked it. But enough, it is a joyous time now, enjoy it my love, all this is for you, you've had a sad lack of happy Christmastides. We can go over the fine details later precious." He said kissing her cheek and Sarah blushed.

This was not happening, the Goblin King was not here, he was not almost confessing he loved her and she was not sitting on his lap surrounded by gorgeous people and hideous goblins! But she was and for the first time in years, she felt wonderful and alive. She hadn't even noticed her change of attire. She had been wearing a pair of jeans and a cable knit sweater. She was now in a beautiful emerald green velvet gown that complimented the King's brilliant red. They were the picture of a regal King and Queen hosting a feast of a Christmas from days gone by. Somehow, her tiny home managed to accommodate her unexpected company and Sidhe were draped on chairs, on the floor, on the couch, on her bed and someone was strumming a gittern cheerfully in the corner. People were laughing and singing, eating and drinking and making merry all around while Goblins acted as gleeful entertainment and servitors. All the while Jareth kept his hand on the small of her back, his fingers tracing soft and gentle patterns as she watched everything around her as if she were lost in a beautiful dream.

Slowly, guests began to filter out in pairs back out into the night, until at last is was just the Goblin King and Sarah left, soft music was playing now from her stereo and the pair swayed in the middle of her living room by candlelight. Since this was a dream, Sarah let herself get lost in the moment and began singing along with the radio; Jareth joined her in an impromptu duet, as he was lost in the moment right along with her.

_**I really can't stay - **__Baby it's cold outside__**  
I've got to go away - **__Baby it's cold outside__**  
This evening has been - **__Been hoping that you'd drop in__**  
So very nice - **__I'll hold your hands, they're just like ice  
__**My mother will start to worry - **__Beautiful, what's your hurry__**  
And father will be pacing the floor - **__Listen to the fireplace roar__**  
So really I'd better scurry - **__Beautiful, please don't hurry__**  
Well maybe just a half a drink more - **__Put some music on while I pour___

_**The neighbors might think - **__Baby, it's bad out there__**  
Say, what's in this drink - **__No cabs to be had out there__**  
I wish I knew how - **__Your eyes are like starlight__**  
To break the spell **__- I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell__**  
I ought to say no, no, no, sir - **__Mind if I move in closer__**  
At least I'm gonna say that I tried - **__What's the sense in hurting my pride?  
__**I really can't stay - **__Baby don't hold out__**  
Ahh, but it's cold outside**_

_**I simply must go - **__Baby, it's cold outside  
__**The answer is no - **__Ooh baby, it's cold outside  
__**This welcome has been - **__I'm lucky that you dropped in__**  
So nice and warm - **__Look out the window at that storm__**  
My sister will be suspicious - **__Gosh, your lips look delicious__**  
My brother will be there at the door - **__Waves upon a tropical shore__**  
My maiden aunt's mind is vicious - **__but your lips are delicious__**  
Well maybe just a half a drink more - **__Never such a blizzard before___

_**I've got to get home **__- Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there__**  
Say, lend me your coat - **__It's up to your knees out there__**  
You've really been grand - **__I thrill when you touch my hand__**  
But don't you see - **__How can you do this thing to me?  
__**There's bound to be talk tomorrow - **__Think of my life long sorrow__**  
At least there will be plenty implied - **__If you caught pneumonia and died__**  
I really can't stay - **__Get over that hold out  
__**Ahh, but it's cold outside**_

The spell of love was thick in the air as Jareth slowly leaned back and gestured with his eyes upward. Hanging from Sarah's overhead light fixture was a sprig of mistletoe that had not been there before. He smiled devilishly at her as it dawned on her that they were standing directly under that little 'not so innocent' plant.

She shivered in a very, very good way as he leaned closer. She shut her eyes and rose up on her toes to meet him halfway as his arms slowly encircled her, one hand around her waist, the other at the nape of her neck. He was utterly intoxicating and Sarah was beyond inebriated with him as their lips met and parted.

The kiss was perhaps the sweetest, most wonderful moment in her young life. Oh the man could kiss and kiss and kiss. Her knees went weak and her hands clung to his shoulders for support. He didn't appear to me much more stable than she was as they broke apart reluctantly. His eyes were shining as he rested his forehead against hers, his thumb stroking her cheek. "Happy Christmas, my Love." He said softly, his voice full of barely contained love and lust for her.

"Merry Christmas to you, my King." She replied and he smiled but shook his head.

"Jareth to you, I would think we've moved past formalities now precious." He chuckled and Sarah smiled.

"I suppose so. Thank you so very much for tonight Jareth. I can't find enough words to describe how I'm feeling right now." Sarah said and Jareth grinned.

"Then show me beautiful." He said leaning in for another kiss.

She showed him how she felt for a very long time.

**Christmas Eve 1993, 11:30 PM…**

"What's he doin' to the lady?" One Goblin asked as they sat in the throne room, looking into the mirror they had all used to get to the Lady above ground.

"Making puppies?" Another replied and got strange looks from his fellows. He elaborated on his answer. "You know those dogs in the city and King said when they do that they make puppies. Remember?"

Several Goblins nodded before another spoke. "But they're not dogs! How can they make puppies? Looks to me King can't play leap frog very well."

"They're wrestling! King's got her pinned a long time. Looks like he's winning."

It was just then Hoggle walked in, saw what the Goblins were watching in the mirror and blanched. "Out, OUT! All of yas! Yer not supposed to watch that!" He said shielding his eyes as he found one of Jareth's capes draped over his throne and tossed it up to cover the mirror.

"They're makin' puppies!" One Goblin said and Hoggle coughed.

"Idjit. Sarah's a human, they don't make puppies fool!" Hoggle grumbled.

"What do they make then, they've been making a long time?" One asked and Hoggle sighed. Goblins could be so dumb.

"They make Babies, now yous leave 'em, be! That there is private between the King and Sarah!" He growled and cleared the throne room. He would sadly never, ever, get the image out of his head; there were just some things one was not meant to see. The King's white ass, up close and personal, with Sarah's legs wrapped around him was just such an image. He was happy for them, truly, but he could have done without the peep show.

**Christmas Day 1993, 12:38 AM…**

Jareth looked down at the beautiful woman asleep on his chest. She had given him the best Christmas gift he could have asked for, herself. Her first kiss and her maidenhead and most importantly, her heart. She was all he had ever wanted and at last, seven long years later, he had her. His most precious treasure. He was not about to ever let her slip through his fingers again. If he had to romance her every night like last night with music and feasting he would just to make her happy. She sighed and nestled closer, using his chest as a pillow. He smiled; reached up to settle her blanket closer around them and gently kissed her sleeping brow. "Happy Christmas." He whispered, letting sleep take him as well for the night.

Even if her bed was pathetic, uncomfortable, creaked enough to sound as if it was going to fly apart as they made love and with a mattress spring poking him in the back for good measure he didn't care. He was going to keep this dilapidated brass bed and place it in the treasury for safe keeping and sentimental value. Magic had been made in this bed and he'd look at it fondly for the rest of his life. A smile was still on his lips as he finally succumbed to slumber.

**Christmas Day 1993, 8:45 AM…**

Sarah yawned as she cracked open bleary, heavy eyes and started with shock. Last night had not been a delicious dream at all, because still asleep beside her, his arms still around her was her Goblin King. Her heart fluttered as memories, wonderful, happy, dream come true memories washed over her. He had been so gentle, so loving, and had made her first time magical. Seeing him in the light of day, his bare chest rising and falling with sleep, his face relaxed with a hint of a smile on his lips her heart skipped yet another two or three beats.

She was not going to ask why or how anymore. She was not going to look this wonderful gift horse in the mouth a second time. He had murmured his love for her repeatedly as they had made love together, he had turned her world upside down and back again and she was going to hang on to him for as long as she could and revel in bliss while it lasted.

She propped herself up to gaze down upon him and then couldn't resist leaning in closer to trail soft kisses across his collarbone and jaw. He sighed as he came out of sleep, his arms tightening their hold around her.

"You are playing with fire precious. Keep being so lovely first thing in the morning and you will be getting an encore performance my dear." He chuckled his eyes indicating there was something tenting the covers from her attentions.

Sarah smiled, but continued to kiss him. "I happen to like playing with fire." She said before squealing as Jareth sat up abruptly to flip and pin her beneath him.

"Then prepare to feel the burn." He growled, nipping at her throat and indeed, following through with his threats. The bed frame groaned and squeaked but thankfully held fast as it was abused again.

**Christmas Day 1993, 10:27 AM…**

It was a rather late start in the morning, all things considered, as Sarah watched Jareth get up at last and pad gloriously nude and unselfconscious across the room to the dining table to grab leftover cookies and whatever else was edible before shaking his head. "I am not thinking clearly." He said with a chuckle looking over at Sarah. "I wonder why?" He added with a smirk before just waving his hand in a dramatic sweep. Gone was the debris from the evening before and it was replaced with a tray of pastries and a pot of what smelled like fresh brewed coffee. He carried it back to bed, and they sat naked, eating warm croissants with honey and butter, sipping strong coffee, and basking in the glow of each other.

Once they finished Jareth made their tray vanish and he grinned. "As much as I relish the thought of laying here naked with you all day my love, I do believe it is Christmas morning and that usually entails the gifting of presents." He said flicking his wrist and they were both dressed again, in comfortable sleeping attire and he held out his hand to escort Sarah in her thick, fluffy pink robe to the couch.

As she sat, he went down on one knee and in his hand was a small box. "Sarah, I have waited a lifetime for you. I made many mistakes upon our first meeting I regret and these past seven years I have been bereft without you. I beg you, my precious, be my Queen." He said opening the box. Inside was a brilliant diamond solitaire the size of a small nation. "Among my kind Sarah, if you accept this ring and consent to my proposal, we will be married. I beg you say me yes." Jareth said and Sarah noticed, despite his calm demeanor and voice, his hands were trembling. He was afraid.

She was not going to reject him a second time.

"I wish for nothing more than to be your wife. I love you, I've always loved you." Sarah replied and she would remember the absolute joy in his eyes as she gave her answer and he slipped the ring on her finger before kissing her soundly.

Before he could drag her back to bed however, she pulled back. "Wait Romeo! I have something for you too!" She laughed as he growled and she skipped over to the table, where her little box still sat. She came back and gave him his present.

"I believe this was my wish right? I remember making it now; I wished I could give this to you." She said and Jareth smiled.

"Precisely and thank you for making it." Jareth replied, sitting down to open his present.

It almost made him cry, but Kings did not cry, they got dust in their eyes. He pinned it on his robe lapel and wore it proudly while they spent a wonderful Christmas together in Sarah's little gingerbread cottage. Before Jareth finally took his wife back Home where she belonged.

Not quite the end…

**Christmas Eve 1994, 11:00 AM…**

"MOM! I think she's here!" Toby called from the living room, seeing a sleek black BMW pull into the driveway.

"Well, not a word in a year and she just turns up…" Karen began and stopped short as she joined Toby at the window. Since when did Sarah have a car like that? She wondered as the doors opened. From the Driver's side a gorgeous blond man stepped out, dressed in a charcoal gray dress coat, merry red scarf tossed over his shoulder and from the passenger side, stepped Sarah. She looked lovely in a fine red woolen coat, but before either of them came to the door. The man first opened the trunk to retrieve gifts while Sarah opened the backdoor of the sedan and bent over to get something from within.

When she stood up again, Karen almost fainted. Sarah was carrying a tightly wrapped bundle in a bright green blanket that looked to be suspiciously like an infant.

"What in the world?" Karen gasped as she went to the front door. She opened it just as Sarah and her strange guests stepped up onto the porch.

"Merry Christmas." Sarah said happily turning to look at the gentleman stepping up beside her. He was even more handsome up close.

"Mrs. Williams." He said in a crisp British accent, his eyes filled with secrets and a smug smile on his lips.

"Um, hello. Come in. What is all this?" Karen asked, her mind a fog as she stepped aside to let her step-daughter, the confirmed baby in her arms and the blond man into her home.

"Wait until Daddy joins us." Sarah said as Robert walked into the room and stopped short.

"Sarah? Who are you?" He asked as Karen took their very expensive coats to hang up.

"Daddy, this is my husband, Jareth, and our Daughter." Sarah said proudly and all three Williams' jaws dropped.

"You're married? And have a Baby?" Robert finally managed to speak after several awkward seconds.

"It was sudden and I am afraid I've had her away and out of reach for quite some time." Jareth said as everyone moved into the living room and Sarah began unwrapping the baby from her many layers of blankets.

"I'm a grandfather?" Robert asked and Sarah nodded.

"You are. Meet Holly." Sarah said passing the small, three month old infant to her father. He looked choked up for a moment. She was beautiful. She didn't have but downy hair growing in, but what she did have was definitely going to be blond like the man seated beside Sarah. The baby's eyes were wide and she sucked her fist and kicked little legs and tried to focus on things around her. Her eyes were two different colors. Her right eye was a crystal blue, her left a sage green like Sarah's eyes. Robert looked up and noticed that the Jareth fellow also had two different eye colors. Only his were blue and near brown.

"It's a genetic quirk in my family to have two different eye colors. She may look like Sarah, but she inherited my coloring." Jareth said proudly, beaming at the baby being held in her grandfather's lap.

"When did all this happen?" Robert asked letting the baby grab onto his finger, she was adorable.

"Last Christmas. We had met before, many years ago and we got together last Christmas again and it was rather unexpected and sudden. We married and were blessed with her on the same day. Jareth doesn't waste time apparently." Sarah said and Jareth laughed.

"I had waited for you long enough. I concede to the marriage being rushed for expediency but she was a very pleasant surprise indeed." Jareth said looking fit to burst with joy as he looked at his daughter.

Toby walked over to look at the baby, shrugged as all little boys do uninterested in babies and sat down next to Sarah on the couch.

Karen came in from the kitchen with sandwiches. "Sorry I don't have more, we weren't expecting company." She said and Sarah just smiled.

"We can't stay long anyway Karen. We just wanted you to know Daddy; we have to head back home this afternoon. It's difficult to get here. But it is… tradition… after all for me to stop by on Christmas Eve." Sarah said and Robert actually had the good sense to flinch a little.

"Where do you live?" He asked handing the baby back to her father.

"Quite far, it is very remote and I have duties I cannot leave for long." Jareth said noncommittally as he took a cookie from the tray and let daughter gum a little of it.

"Jareth don't feed her cookies! She'll choke, no teeth yet." Sarah gasped and Jareth grinned.

"She's just sucking on the sugar worry wart." He teased and Sarah rolled her eyes.

"So coming from the man who wanted me bed-ridden for nine months he was such a basket case." Sarah shot right back and Jareth smiled.

"That was different." Was all he said and Karen laughed, honestly laughed.

"That's a husband thing Sarah." Karen said looking pointedly at her own.

Conversation was actually very pleasant for a change and after a few hours said their good-byes and they left, drove just down the street to the park where the car vanished the moment they stepped out of it and as they walked toward the tree line, King, Queen and Princess also vanished.

Back in the Castle beyond the Goblin City, Jareth sat in his throne, his daughter on his lap and his wife beside him. "That went well enough." Jareth said and Sarah nodded.

"Surprisingly yes. They did need to know as much as we could tell them. I never saw them more than once a year anyway, so keeping up the 'tradition' I suppose is good. Holly should know her grandfather at the very least." Sarah said smiling at her daughter who was chewing on Jareth's fingers and slobbering all over her father's shirt.

"I agree. Let fences mend if they can where they can." He said as he looked deeply into his wife's eyes.

"Happy anniversary beloved." He said and Sarah leaned over and kissed him.

"Happy anniversary My King." She replied and Holly just burped and the Goblins laughed.

"We taught her that!" They all chorused and Jareth rolled his eyes. They were going to be a bad, bad influence on his offspring, he could see it now and he was going to more than likely enjoy every second of chaos.

He was after all, the Goblin King and Kings never did anything by halves.

The End….

*Just a bit of Christmas fluff, because I like fluff and sap and Christmas stories. I promise more on "Quintessence" soon!

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The Boar's Head Carol is one of the earliest recorded Christmas Carols from middle English origins... dated back to about the 10th Century and I chose it for two reasons. The first being it is OLD and I felt it was appropriate for a Sidhe choir to sing it since they were alive when it was on the billboard top 20 persay and secondly for the LAST latin sentence before the final refrain… "In Reginensi atrio" means "In the Queen's Hall" where the feast was always held… they held the feast in Sarah's Cottage… so in fact they were literally having the feast in the Queen's hall. :)

Why yes, I am a music geek and I get off on musical references, even obscure ones. I used to perform madrigals a very long time ago and the Boar's Head Carol has always been one of my favorites and I finally got to use it in a story.

Translation of the LATIN SENTENCES:

1. However many are at the feast. (Quot estis in convivio)

2. I bring the boar's head. (Caput apri defero)

3. rendering praises to The LORD. (Reddens laudes DOMINO)

4. serve it with a song. (Let us servire cantico)

5. In the Queen's hall (In Reginensi atrio)

6. praises to The LORD, praises to The LORD. (Laudes DOMINO, laudes DOMINO)

7. The LORD. (DOMINO)

I also Chose "Ding! Dong! Merrily on High" because of its traditional phrasing and while the LYRICS to the song were not written until the Victorian era, the music was written in the 16th century. "le branle de l'Official" in Orchésographie, a secular dance book written by Jehan Tabourot. Yes, I know this weird stuff, sad huh? LOL.

Lastly, I chose "Baby it's Cold Outside." Because frankly I LOVE that song, it's fun to snuggle and dance to and who wouldn't want David Bowie crooning that in their ear? I sure would have!

Hope you enjoyed my little Christmas present to you. Happy Holidays!

Xoxox

-Fable


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